Cincinnati Police arrested more than 20 Occupy Cincinnati protesters last night. Here's a recap of the events, which notes that a parade to honor local billionaire Carl Lindner was scheduled for this morning.

The Hamilton County Commissioners' stadium funding failures have caused County Auditor Dusty Rhodes to describe a “dream world” where politicians think their inaction doesn't affect anybody. Today's news that the stadium fund will be bankrupt by March without additional funding has not deterred Republican Chris Monzel and Democrat Todd Portune from giving property owners the tax credit that convinced them to vote for the 1996 sales tax increase.

"It would be the height of irresponsibly to commit funds they knew were not there," Rhodes said. "I've long criticized various governments for living in dream world.

Gang-related activity driving increase in violence, according to police

Heads of the Cincinnati Police Department testified in
front of City Council’s Law and Public Safety Committee Monday to
address the local increase in homicides.

The city’s homicide rate hit 25 per 100,000 residents in 2013, compared to the U.S. rate of 4.7 per 100,000 in 2012, following a spike in homicides in
Over-the-Rhine, downtown and the west side of Cincinnati, according to
police statistics.

“The concern has been the sheer number of homicides we
experienced in 2013 and the number of juvenile victims we had this
year,” said Assistant Chief Dave Bailey.

Councilman Christopher Smitherman also highlighted the
high levels of black-on-black crime, which Chief Jeffrey Blackwell
agreed are unacceptable across the country.

“My fear is that my son, who’s African-American … is
going to be killed by another African-American,” Smitherman said.
“That’s what those stats are saying.”

The key driver of the increases, according to police, is
gang-related activity, particularly activity involving the Mexican drug cartel that
controls the heroin trade.

Chief Blackwell explained the increase in homicides
appears to be particularly related to disruptions in criminal organizations and their
territories.

“Criminal territories have been disrupted, and we’ve seen
an increase in turf wars and neighborhood situations between young
people,” he said. “Most of the homicides are personal crimes between two
known victims. Very rarely are they random in nature.”

Councilman Kevin Flynn asked what council could do to help remedy the situation.

“We are significantly short of police officers, so we
desperately need a recruit class,” Blackwell responded. “We need to
improve our technology platform here in the police department.”

Blackwell cautioned that there’s not a direct correlation
between more police officers and less homicides, but he said another
recruit class could help the city meet basic needs.

Flynn claimed council is very willing to meet those needs, given the importance of public safety to the city’s prosperity.

“If we’re not safe and we don’t have the perception that
we’re a safe city, none of the rest of the great things we do as a city
are going to help,” he said.

How council meets those needs while dealing with fiscal concerns remains to be seen, considering Mayor John Cranley and a majority of council members ran on the promise of structurally balancing the city’s operating budget for the first time in more than a decade.

City officials have vowed to avoid raising taxes and cutting basic services, which makes the task of balancing the budget all the more difficult. Advancing promises of more spending for the police department further complicates the issue, even if it’s politically advantageous in a city seriously concerned about public safety.

Cincinnati Police will hold several town hall meetings in
the next week to hear concerns from citizens. The meetings will span
across all local districts:• District 2: Jan. 7, Medpace, Inc., 5375 Medpace Way.• District 3: Jan. 8, Elder HS Schaeper Center, 3900 Vincent.• District 1 and Central Business District: Jan. 9, River of Life Church, 2000 Central Parkway.• District 5: Jan. 13, Little Flower Church, 5560 Kirby Ave..• District 4: Jan. 14, Church of the Resurrection, 1619 California Ave.

Correction: The local homicide rate for 2013 was 25 per 100,000 residents, contrary to the 15.5 per 100,000 rate cited by police officials to City Council.

The First District County Court of Appeals heard arguments over the city’s parking plan and emergency clause powers today, with both sides making similar arguments as before
— except this time the city acknowledged it will probably have to move
forward with layoffs because the city only has a few weeks remaining
before it has to balance the budget for fiscal year 2014, which begins
July 1. The city claims it can use emergency clauses to expedite
legislation, such as the parking plan, by eliminating a 30-day waiting
period and the possibility of a referendum, but opponents argue the
wording in the City Charter doesn’t justify terminating referendum
efforts. If courts side with opponents, the city’s plan to lease its
parking assets to the Port Authority, which CityBeat covered here, will likely appear on the ballot in November, forcing the city to lay off cops, firefighters and other city employees instead of using the parking plan to help balance the budget.

It’s looking more and more likely that Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig will take the top police job in Detroit,
despite Cincinnati officials asking Craig to reconsider. Previously,
Councilman Charlie Winburn, the lone Republican on City Council, pushed
city officials to do more to encourage Craig to stay, but City Manager
Milton Dohoney Jr. said Craig’s motivations may be personal because
his family resides in Detroit, a city that is in desperate need of a
turnaround.

Ohio’s tea party groups are preparing to either split from
the Republican Party or punish Republican leaders for recent actions,
according to The Columbus Dispatch. Tea party groups have been particularly upset with Gov. John Kasich’s endorsement of the Medicaid expansion, which CityBeat covered in further detail here and here,
and Ohio Republicans’ election of Matt Borges, who once lobbied for a
gay rights group, as chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. Since the
2010 elections, tea party groups have kept political footholds in some
areas, but they have consistently lost favor with voters.

In case you missed it, here was CityBeat’s news coverage for the current week’s issue, which went online late because of Internet issues:

A portion of the Ohio House budget bill would make it more difficult
for out-of-state students to vote in Ohio by forcing public universities to
decide between extra tuition money and providing documents that students need to vote. Republicans say the rule is meant to lower tuition and prevent
out-of-state students from voting on local issues they may know little
about, but Democrats, backed by university officials, say the rule
suppresses college-going voters, who tend to support Democrats over
Republicans.

Ohio Senate President Keith Faber said there is no substantial Republican support
in the Ohio House, Ohio Senate or governor’s mansion for so-called
“right to work” legislation. The lack of support for the anti-union
laws, which prevent unions and employers from making collective
bargaining agreements that require union membership, may be
linked to 2011’s voter rejection of Senate Bill 5, which would have
limited public unions’ collective bargaining and political powers. S.B. 5
was one reason unions, including the Republican-leaning Fraternal Order
of Police, supported Democrats in 2012.

Despite security concerns in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon, Sunday’s Flying Pig Marathon had a record 34,000 participants.

The Ohio Elections Committee dismissed a complaint against COAST for allegedly making false tweets about Issue 48, but it was only because the complaint, filed by pro-streetcar group Cincinnatians for Progress, improperly named a COAST political action as a defendant or something. Streetcar advocates say they'll refile the complaint, and COAST lawyer Chris Finney says he'll win again. (“HAHAHA!”)

Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls is calling for a quick police
chief search following a bout of local violence during the past few
weeks. In a memo to City Manager Milton Dohoney, Qualls argues a police
chief replacement is necessary to clamp down on crime, particularly gun
and gang-related violence. She asks the city manager to report to City
Council on the hiring search in early August and have a full replacement
ready by the end of the summer. Former Police Chief James Craig
recently left Cincinnati to take the police chief job in Detroit, his
hometown.

Ohio dropped from No. 13 to No. 25
in a state-by-state ranking of highways. The report from the Reason
Foundation, a libertarian think tank, looked at highway conditions and cost
effectiveness. Among the findings: About 22.73 percent of Ohio’s bridges
were deemed deficient in 2009, down from 24.51 percent in 2007. Twenty
states reported more than one in four bridges as deficient — a threshold
Ohio barely missed. Despite Ohio being relatively worse off, the nation
as a whole improved in major categories, according to the report: “Six
of the seven key indicators of system condition showed improvement,
including large gains in rural interstate and urban interstate
condition, and a reduction in the fatality rate.”

Ohio Democrats now criticizing the state budget’s rape counselor restriction voted for the measure in a separate House bill on June 16.
The “gag,” as Democrats now call it, prevents publicly funded rape
counselors from discussing abortion as a viable medical option for rape
victims. “Democrats supported the bill to fund rape crisis centers and
we were led to believe that this offensive language gagging rape
counselors would be fixed in the budget,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman
Chris Redfern told the Associated Press through a spokesperson. “It was
not.” Democrats voted against the state budget that actually encoded
the measure into law.

On July 11 at Fountain Square, anti-abortion group Created Equal plans to use a jumbo screen to show a graphic video containing footage of aborted fetuses and their separated limbs.

Three more statewide online schools — known as “e-schools” — are coming to Ohio
following approval from the Department of Education. Proponents of
e-schools call them a “valuable alternative” to traditional schooling.
But some education experts and studies have found e-schools often perform poorly.

Even though it’s now illegal under local and state law, texting while driving often eludes punishment
in Greater Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department has
issued no tickets so far to vehicular texters, while the Cincinnati
Police Department has given out 28, with only four going to teenagers.
Although almost everyone acknowledges the dangers of texting while
driving, police say it’s very difficult to catch texters in the act,
especially since most of them claim they were just making phone calls.

Otto Budig, board chairman of the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority, apparently told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the Port Authority won’t sign the parking lease
until it gets assurances about city funding. City Council considered pulling $100,000 from the Port
Authority while putting together the budget for fiscal year 2014. Now,
Budig says the Port Authority wants some sort of financial assurance,
perhaps as part of the parking lease, that the city won’t threaten
future funding. The city announced Tuesday it had signed the lease, but some opponents, including Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, are still looking for ways to repeal the plan.

A Policy Matters Ohio report found the state’s tax code remains complicated
under the Ohio Senate budget plan and the budget actually added tax breaks, despite earlier promises of simplification from House and Senate leaders. Meanwhile, Mike Dittoe, spokesperson
for Ohio House Republicans, says the General Assembly will take up tax
reform later in the year. The Ohio Department of Taxation says the tax breaks will cost Ohio nearly $8 billion in fiscal year 2015, and Policy Matters says many of the exemptions, deductions and credits are wasteful.

JobsOhio topped a ranking
from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) that looks at government
agencies’ “unrelenting commitment to undermining the public's right to
know.” IRE mocked JobsOhio and the state Republicans for making it
increasingly difficult to find out how the agency uses its public funds.
Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, have also criticized
Republicans for blocking a public audit of JobsOhio, which was
established by Gov. John Kasich and Republican legislators in 2011 to
eventually replace the public Ohio Department of Development. JobsOhio’s
supporters argue the agency’s privatized, secret nature allows it to move
at the “speed of business” to better boost the economy.

The Cincinnati Museum Center is looking to ask Hamilton County residents to renew its operating levy
in May 2014, even though the museum promised in 2009 that it wouldn’t
do so. The museum argues circumstances have changed, with Union Terminal
crumbling and in need of about $163 million in repairs. When the museum
originally made its promise against more operating levies, it was
expecting to make repairs through a capital levy, but Hamilton County
commissioners dismissed that idea. Hamilton County commissioners will
have to approve the operating levy before it goes on the ballot.

City Council conservatives made Mayor Mallory real mad yesterday, blocking his appointment of Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan to the Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District. An initial vote actually allowed the appointment until appointed Republican Councilman Wayne Lippert heard that the other Republicans and Chris Bortz voted against it for various trivial reasons. Lippert asked for a re-vote and swung it the other way.

Mallory reportedly called out the conservatives, referring to them as "extremely unprofessional" and "horribly non-functional." According to The Enquirer, the normally even-tempered Mallory responded to their suggestions that they'd like to see someone else receive the appointment by saying, "that person's not getting appointed” and later adding, "I appoint a lot of people to a lot of things. And this will be remembered."

Gay marriage still recognized; Ohio could expand, save on Medicaid; death after Taser use

A federal judge on Tuesday extended the temporary restraining order recognizing a gay couple’s marriage in Ohio. As CityBeat covered here,
Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) and is expected to die soon, sued local and state
officials hoping to have their Maryland marriage acknowledged by Ohio
before Arthur’s death certificate was issued. Judge Timothy Black sided
with the couple, and he’s now extended the temporary restraining order
until December, which should provide enough time for Arthur’s expected
death and the remaining legal battle. The judge has made it clear that
the order only applies to Obergefell and Arthur.

Ohio could spend less on Medicaid if it expands eligibility for the program, according to a new analysis
from Ohio State University and the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. But
the expansion would have to come with cost controls that cap spending
growth at 3.5 percent to 4 percent, as opposed to the current rate of
7.2 percent. Still, the analysis shows that policies including an expansion can
save the state money. Under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), the
federal government is asking states to expand Medicaid to include anyone
at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In return, the
federal government would pay for the entire expansion for the first
three years then phase down its payments to 90 percent of the
expansion’s cost. Typically, the federal government pays for about 60 percent of Medicaid in Ohio.

A Sycamore Township man died yesterday after Hamilton County deputies used a Taser on him
during a brief struggle. Deputies found Gary Roell, 59, half-clothed
and smashing windows right before they took him into custody. It’s
unclear how many times the Taser was used or whether the Taser was the
direct cause of death. Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil says the deputies
followed protocol, given the violent actions carried out by Roell, who punched a
deputy in the face during the confrontation. Still, some groups have
been asking police departments around the country to change protocol
altogether. A 2012 report from Amnesty International
found at least 500 people died in the United States between 2001 and
2012 after being shocked with Tasers during their arrests or while in
jail.

The 2013 Ohio Health Issues Poll found that higher-income Ohio adults reported better health than those with lower incomes.
In 2013, 59 percent of Ohio adults above 138 percent of the federal
poverty level, or roughly $15,856 for a single-person household,
reported “excellent” or “very good” health, compared to only 26 percent
of those below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or about
$11,490 for a single-person household. The United Way of Greater
Cincinnati is pointing to the results as just one other way life is more
difficult for low-income Ohioans. The group intends to get at least 70
percent of the community to report “excellent” or “very good” health by
2020. Only about 53 percent of adults in southwest Ohio currently
report such health, according to the Ohio Health Issues Poll.

The Ohio Investigative Unit (OIU) today sent out a warning
to college students asking them to watch out for drugged drinks. OIU provided four safety tips: Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks can be
drugged, students shouldn’t leave a drink laying around or turn their
backs on it, they shouldn’t accept drinks from strangers or someone they
don’t trust, and students should watch their friends’ drinks and
act if they see anything suspicious. The Ohio Incident Based Reporting
System (OIBRS) shows there were 14 incidents of forcible rape with drug
as a weapon in 2012, but not all Ohio police departments report to
OIBRS, so the numbers are likely understated.

National non-profit teacher training program Teach For America has offered to work in Cincinnati Public Schools, possibly as early as next year. CPS has yet to commit to the partnership, noting that there are laid-off veteran teachers in the region.